Si Tian Guan

"Are you resigning from Dali Temple again? What happened to Linghe? Are you just making trouble with him?"

Emperor Yu glanced at the zhezi with Yu Dexi's hand, and smiled angrily: "If you are so self-willed, you won't be afraid that I will blame your father and your sister?"

He nodded to Liu Chongming, who was kneeling at the bottom of the steps, and cursed with a smile: "I'm just too spoiled with you. Yu Dexi, go and declare Ah Zhenglai, bring Chongming back, and discipline him well."

Yu Dexi responded, and as soon as he stepped down the steps, Liu Chongming grabbed the hem of his clothes.

"Your Majesty," Liu Chongming kowtowed deeply, "It's not that I have a quarrel with Ling Shaoqing, but I suddenly realized a lot of truths recently, only to realize that I was young and ignorant and took many detours."

Emperor Yu smiled: "It seems that you were right in not letting you fool around with Jing Zhao, what did you realize?"

Liu Chongming straightened up, looked straight at the desk, and answered loudly.

"I used to have narrow eyes and shallow vision. I only thought about the murder of my brother. I even went to Dali Temple to report on my work for my brother. But now I want to understand what is the most important thing."

"There is a country first, and then a family. I read the books of sages, but I have never been able to understand the true meaning."

"The Liu family has been greatly favored by the emperor, so it is the reason for its glory today. I have been taught by the emperor since I was a child, and this body should be the emperor's death."

"The minister's house is at the bottom, and he is ashamed of the emperor's cultivation, so how can he still have the audacity to eat vegetarian meals at the corpse of Dali Temple, so today I come here to plead guilty to the emperor."

"You are still a child after all," Emperor Yu laughed at his seriousness, "But your appearance reminds me of your father's outspoken temper when he was young, really the same."

Liu Chongming hurriedly took a knee step forward.

"Your Majesty, I'm not childish, and I'm not being so forthright with everyone. It's just that when I think of disappointing the Emperor in the past, I'm like a thousand arrows. I wish I could confide my heart to the Emperor."

"Forget it, it's so serious," Emperor Yu gestured to Yu Dexi: "Since you don't want to stay in Dali Temple, you have asked to resign several times, and I will put the notes here first. I will discuss it with your father in another day before making a decision." Your whereabouts. Go and accompany your sister."

"Your Majesty, I still have something to say." Liu Chongming didn't kowtow to thank him, he knelt and refused to get up, hesitating in his words: "I... dare not ask the emperor to forgive me..."

"What big event is worth your hesitation?"

"Last year, Eunuch Pan accompanied the minister's fleet to sail. Although the minister handed in the account details booklet, but... he was obsessed with money for a while..." Liu Chongming lowered his head and hesitated: "30 taels were concealed."

Emperor Yu's face turned cold: "Liu Chongming, you are so courageous. Do you know that according to the laws of Dayu, if the incumbent officials have corrupted so much money, how should they be dealt with?"

"The crime should be executed," Liu Chongming fell on the ground and did not dare to get up: "I am willing to donate 40 taels, and I dare not ask the emperor to forgive me. I only ask for my life, and I am willing to be the emperor's saddle!"

Before Emperor Yu could reprimand him, he hurriedly continued.

"The shop in the south of the minister has passed the news that there is a very good-looking spiritual branch grass. The minister heard that the Queen Mother has been weak recently, and has been sent all the way to the capital without stopping. It must be within three days. .”

"I also taught people to rush to make a batch of Buddhist incense, and sent them to temples all over the place, begging the emperor and the empress dowager to be healthy and live a long life."

"I know that my crimes are serious and I am disobedient, so I come here today to ask the emperor to punish me."

Liu Chongming rested his forehead on the back of his hand, he didn't know if he really entered the scene, or if he had never bowed so low in front of others, he even heard the sobs in his own voice.

The emperor has been raised under the empress dowager's name since he was eight years old. Since he ascended the throne, he has devoted himself to serving the empress dowager.

Whenever the queen mother is mentioned, the emperor always gives some thin noodles.

What's more, he knew in his heart that this was nothing more than a formality.

If the emperor didn't know how much money he had corrupted Pan He, what would happen afterwards?

If the emperor hadn't liked his insatiable greed, how could he have made some holes in the impenetrable wall so that he could get a glimpse of it?

As expected, Emperor Yu pondered for a moment, and reprimanded in a deep voice: "Because of your sincere repentance, I will forgive you once for the sake of the Empress Dowager. The next time you commit a crime, you must not be forgiven lightly!"

The first test was passed, Liu Chongming kowtowed to thank him, and then continued: "Your Majesty, Eunuch Pan..."

He hesitated to speak, and the imperial study room suddenly became cold because of his words.

Is it pretending not to know?Should he be kicked out immediately?still……

Liu Chongming tried his best to adjust his breathing. After a long time, Yu Dexi walked by him from the corner of his eye, went to the imperial study room to give a few orders, and the outside became more and more quiet before he came back.

After the scene is cleared, it's time for them to really talk.

"Eunuch Pan said..." He propped his hands on the ground, bowed his head and said softly, "Those two people are no longer here. I would like to search all over the country for the sake of the emperor, to find these two vacancies."

The sound of flipping the booklets in the imperial study room stopped suddenly, Liu Chongming counted silently in his heart, and he was not in a hurry to speak immediately.

In fact, he didn't need to explain much, the emperor should know what he was talking about, he was just shocked by such a straightforward opening.

The seemingly commonplace words already showed that he knew everything.

And with the pride of the emperor, he would not lower his status to ask him in detail how he knew the cause and effect.

"This is unconscious suppression." Qu Chenzhou said to him like this: "Since having a child by sin is very important to the emperor, he must need someone more urgently than you to do these shameful things."

"A fool like Liao Guangming who blindly obeys is no longer able to satisfy the emperor."

"You have to let him know that you have the Bailiu family behind you, that you are smart enough, transparent enough, and have some ambition and greed that can't be concealed, so that he will be interested in locking you up and controlling you boldly. "

"Because he thinks he can."

"This is also the desire to conquer that a person sitting in that position should have. The emperor can't resist this kind of temptation, I understand him."

He is young, smart, and full of strength. He is the future head of the Liu family and will also be the mainstay of Dayu.

This is the reason why he will be feared by the emperor, and also the reason why the emperor is eager to capture him.

The emperor would not refuse him, just like a hyena would not refuse a piece of fat that came to his door.

After a long time, Emperor Yu said slowly, "Which two?"

Liu Chongming's answer was quick: "Seventeen, 25."

The offspring of sin have no names, only sequential numbers, starting from the first year when the emperor took action.

A woman who is pregnant with twins has to be raised by one of them, and the other unborn child dies together with the woman, and the blood is turned into a bowl of soup.

These many sinful offspring who were deliberately created became the emperor's scapegoats, bearing the emperor's innate sins, and warming the medicine every year to draw blood.

Emperor Yu snorted, "What seventeen, 25?"

Liu Chongming glanced across the table leg in front of him, slowly lifted it up, and only landed on the folded bookcase at the corner of the desk, before answering word by word: "Sin begets children."

"Yu Dexi."

In Emperor Yu's gentle voice, Yu Dexi stepped forward in two steps and bowed to Liu Chongming: "My son, please offend me."

Before Liu Chongming could speak in the future, a slap hit his cheek hard, followed by the second and third.

Yu Dexi swung his bow left and right, and after seven or eight hits in succession, he retreated back to stand beside Emperor Yu.

These few palms spared no effort, Liu Chongming's cheeks were scorched by fire, his mouth smelled of blood, but he kowtowed three times before the steps: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

Emperor Yu looked down at him coldly: "I just want to tell you that there are some things that you should not talk about."

"I will always remember the emperor's instruction!" Liu Chongming bowed again: "I will live up to the emperor's entrustment!"

"I didn't say anything," Emperor Yu stared at him, "Did your father tell you?"

Liu Chongming knew the meaning of these words, now that he has already stepped half of his foot into the door, whether he can successfully enter before the door closes, the key lies in the question and answer after that.

"If you go back to the emperor, I did know about the fortune-telling from my father, but I didn't disclose everything about Eunuch Pan to my father."

"It turns out Ah Zheng didn't know," Emperor Yu sneered, "Chongming, you're still young, and I'm not short of people."

"Your Majesty, there were twelve prime ministers in ancient times, and the minister will be crowned next year. It's not too small. I'm ashamed of the chaos and absurdity these years. I only hope to make up for the past, and..."

Liu Chongming raised his chin slightly: "The minister is the future master of the Liu family!"

There was a moment of silence in the imperial study room. After this sentence, he seemed to have turned into a mass of air, no one paid attention to him, no one looked at him.

Yu Dexi lowered his eyebrows and studied the ink at the table, while Emperor Yu licked the nib of the pen to the full, concentrating on marking the notes.

The conversation just now seemed like a puff of air in the cold wind, and it disappeared in a blink of an eye, as if it never existed.

Liu Chongming was still kneeling, his back straightened, and he had no intention of retreating.

Because he is covetous, because he asks much.

Lights were turned on in the room, and Emperor Yu got up with Yu Dexi's support. When he passed by him, he yelled, "Go out and kneel."

Liu Chongming kowtowed, followed out of the imperial study room, and knelt obediently outside the door.

The sky was so dark that the outlines of the clouds could not be seen clearly. The summer night was not cold, but the unique silence in the palace was chilled by the wind.

The bluestone slabs seemed to be connected to a cold spring underground, and gradually became numb below the knees.

He straightened his back, staring at the hollows on the carved wooden door in front of him, felt that there were blood-red eyes hidden inside, whispering, and when the door opened, he flew out to eat him.

After midnight, Concubine Liu Gui was the first to come to see him.

Naturally he wouldn't get up, and he refused to say anything, after a long stalemate, Concubine Liu Gui had no choice but to hand over the ginseng soup, watched him drink it, and then reluctantly left.

Liu Chongming watched his sister drift away, and suddenly understood Qu Chenzhou's reticence in the past.

There are many things that cannot be said in words, the more you face important people, the more you want to protect them, the more you want to stand in front and replace them with your body.

He never regretted taking the money from Pan He, and was even grateful that he had the opportunity to prevent the horrible past life that Shen Zhou said from recurring.

The Bailiu family can no longer be destroyed once again, the elder sister can no longer die unjustly in the palace, and Shen Zhou...he wants to hold hands with Shen Zhou to grow old together, Mu Xue grows old.

Asked for much.

Now it's just paying a little dignity, what is it?

Liu Chongming knew that after dawn, his father came and left soon, so he didn't know if he went to the emperor to say something.

He knelt for too long, there was a faint ringing sound in his ears, he couldn't hear it clearly, he just shook his head silently.

Afterwards, Uncle also came to see him in a hurry, after King Ning, King Huai and King Qi also entered the imperial study for him.

He wanted to laugh a little, it seemed that everyone knew that Liu Shizi, who had always been favored by the emperor, had made some mistake and was punished to kneel outside the door of the imperial study.

Everyone who came to visit him would add weight to him and make the emperor's heart beat.

At first, Liu Chongming still had the energy to deal with the pleasantries, but day and night were tediously rotating in front of him, and I don't know how long it took, and hunger and fatigue stripped away all his strength little by little.

He was sweating profusely, and the wooden door in front of him swayed from side to side as if it had come to life, dazzled his eyes, and his consciousness also gradually collapsed.

All external affairs were like bamboo shoots peeled off layer by layer. In a daze, he just wanted to go home.

He remembered that he had promised to go home before the palace gate was locked.

Someone at home is waiting for him.

That stubborn little fox definitely refused to go to sleep, stubbornly guarding the door, waiting for him for days and nights.

He wants to go home.

After an unknown amount of time, someone finally knelt down beside him and said softly, "If your son has made up his mind, please come with us."